Thursday 25th June 2026 | Arrival from 6.30pm, Talk and Q&A 7pm
Step into the world of Georgian feasting at Strawberry Hill House…
Your evening begins with after-hours access to Horace Walpole’s extraordinary Gothic villa, offering the chance to explore its richly decorated interiors at your own pace. From the theatrical Great Parlour to the intimate spaces of Walpole’s home, discover how display, sociability and spectacle shaped the Georgian experience.
Guests will then gather in the Gallery for a talk and Q&A with Dr Amy Boyington, exploring the country house dining room as a carefully orchestrated theatre of wealth, power and performance. From lavish interiors and fine tableware to the rituals of eating and drinking, every detail was designed to impress.
Drawing on newly uncovered accounts of feasts at houses such as Holkham Hall, Hardwick Hall and Blenheim Palace, Amy brings the Georgian dining experience vividly to life — from indulgent excess to the curious rise of ‘cures’ for overconsumption.
This event offers a fascinating lens through which to view Strawberry Hill itself, where Walpole entertained guests within interiors designed to astonish and delight.
Tickets: Standard £25 | With signed book (pre-order): £50
What’s included:
– After-hours access to Strawberry Hill House
– Talk and audience Q&A with Dr Amy Boyington
– A glass of fizz or soft drink
– Book signing
– Optional pre-purchase of a signed copy of the novel
Why here? Strawberry Hill House was created by Horace Walpole as a place of display, sociability and theatrical effect. His interiors — including the Great Parlour — formed part of the same culture of performance and refinement explored in Georgian dining rooms across Britain.
Strawberry Hill After Dark evenings invites visitors to experience the house as Walpole intended: atmospheric, social and alive with conversation.
About the Author: Dr Amy Boyington is a public historian and popular social media historian (@history_with_amy). She has held roles including Senior Properties Historian at English Heritage, Trust Director at The Lutyens Trust, and postdoctoral researcher at Kensington Palace and Queens’ College, Cambridge.
She has worked in curatorial and research roles at historic houses including Holkham Hall, Goodwood House and Woburn Abbey, and is a trustee of the Historic Houses Foundation. Her first book, Hidden Patrons: Women and Architectural Patronage in Georgian Britain (2023), was shortlisted for Architectural History Book of the Year.
Her new book, The Country House Dining Room: A History of Georgian Feasting (Yale University Press, 2026), explores how dining became a central expression of wealth, status and culture in eighteenth-century Britain.
